A number of people in high places were outraged that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dared to state in his Jan.18 press conference that the U.S.-led Western coalition of EU and NATO member states is seeking to eliminate Russians, just as Adolf Hitler did in seeking a final solution to the “Jewish question.” Just as Hitler threw his coalition of European countries against the Soviet Union, today the West is dealing with the “Russian question” through its proxy war against Russia, Lavrov bluntly stated. (https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1848395/)
How dare he make such a statement, sputtered John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, on Jan. 19. Lavrov’s remarks were “truly offensive! It’s almost so absurd that it’s not worth responding to, other than the truly offensive manner in which he tried to cast us in terms of Hitler and the Holocaust.” He went on: “how dare he compare anything to the Holocaust, let alone a war that they started.” Lavrov’s statements were “self-pitying,” he charged, and added that from the beginning “Putin has tried to cast this as Mother Russia under threat. False.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly went further, calling in Russian Ambassador Oleg Stepanov to chastise him for what she said were Lavrov’s “anti-Semitic remarks.”
Judging from Israeli statements, no one other than Israeli Jews are allowed to speak about the Holocaust. According to Ha’aretz, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Holocaust “was the darkest moment in the history of humanity and a unique event. Any comparison or relating current events with Hitler’s final solution plan for the extermination of the Jewish People distorts the historical truth, desecrates the memory of those who perished and the survivors and should be strongly rejected. Such comparisons are unacceptable.”
A similar statement came from a spokesperson from the Vad Hashem Holocaust Memorial who said that Lavrov’s remarks were “dangerous, delusional and a dangerous misinterpretation of historical facts and must be condemned,” Ha’aretz reported.
Looks like Lavrov’s statement was right on the mark.
